2017: writing goals and magic

I’ve started this year full of gusto for writing. I’ve found a new direction, new ideas and a sense of purpose. The year ahead stretches away in front of me, like brand new sparkly pages, and I’m feeling excited about what I can fill them with.

I tend to always feel like this in January. However, last year’s writing goals didn’t eventuate the way I’d hoped. Peppered with many challenges, I felt lost at times and self doubt crept in.

Yet – despite little to no progress on my book and a ‘rejection’ from Mum Central – there were many positives. I found my voice with Kidzabuzz, I connected with other writers, and no matter what life threw at me, I always came back to writing. No matter how fractured my focus.

This year, I want to regroup. I want to go back to the reason I started writing, and look ahead to where I want to be. Although I love writing articles about parenting (it’s an important part of my life, after all), there are times that I want to escape from this persona. When I’m alone, I’m drawn to magic and mysteries, the unexplained and the long unsolved. I love the past, I love nature, I love the ocean, and I love suspense. To write about this stuff excites me in a way I can’t explain.

And so my main goal for 2017 is to finish my first novel, Jane Bardot. I need to go back to my old friends, find out how their story ends. I have other ideas too — new adventures ahead for my characters. The plan is to write a series, the same characters but different cases.

Here on my blog, you’ll see big changes. I’ve found a way to bring it all together, and I’ll work hard to post on a more regular basis. I have a new tagline: Finding Magic, Writing Stories. It allows me to write about my children, while at the same time exploring the topics in my book. So this year I’ll be finding magic, then sharing that magic with you.

You’ll read about the adventures I have with my children and the magic I find in everyday life. But I’ll also share stories I see against the backdrop of my book – the people and places in 1950s Scarborough, WA, as well the people and places from the Scarborough of today. I’ll share unexplained and unsolved cases, question why they remain a mystery. I’ll write about my book research, my general progress, and I’ll review other books that – I feel – have magic within them.

If you’re lucky you’ll also get some of my poetry thrown in for good measure 😉

So I do hope you’ll hang around and continue this journey with me. You’re the reason I’m writing, after all, and I’d love you to share the magic.

Check out my new ABOUT ME page.